Hundreds Clash over Confederate Monument in San Antonio

A group of protesters wave Confederate flags in defense of a monument in Travis Park. Photo: Gus Bova

About 500 people converged on a San Antonio park in the blistering heat Saturday — some to call for the removal of a 118-year-old Confederate monument and others to defend it. The two groups held rallies on opposite sides of the downtown Travis Park for about five hours, and one person was arrested.

“The truth is the Confederacy fought for slavery, so when you have Confederate monuments in public spaces, that’s a symbol of hate and fear,” said Jonathan David-Jones, an organizer with the Black Lives Matter-esque group SATX4. “For a lot of us, it’s disgusting. They can put [the statue] in the garbage can for all I care — or in one of those Confederate guys’ houses.”

Michael Murphy, a 20-year-old protesting with SATX4, was arrested and charged with assault (contact), a Class C misdemeanor, according to the San Antonio Police Department. Police could not immediately provide details of the alleged assault.

The statue, which has stirred controversy in the city for years, is a 40-foot high obelisk topped with an anonymous Confederate soldier that was erected by the Daughters of the Confederacy in 1899. An inscription reads: “Lest we forget our Confederate dead.”